Right now there are many New Yorkers who could use a helping hand— and plenty of good Samaritans who would like to do just that: help their neighbors in their time of need. For these reasons I was absolutely delighted to receive the above missive from the Citizens Committee for New York City this afternoon! Those of you who have questions (or simply want more information) can/should contact Emi at the above-listed email address. Otherwise, here you go:

At long last, a site documenting the other side of the New York City real estate boom! As you can see in the above screencap, north Brooklynites, our area is quite red. The mad genius behind this endeavor writes (in an email entitled “Weekly updates of stalled construction sites in NYC”):

This item comes courtesy of the folks at Ghostbikes.org. On Sunday, March 18th, they will be conducting their 7th Annual Memorial Ride & Walk. Follows is a general outline per their press release.

The Annual Memorial Ride and Walk brings New Yorkers together to remember pedestrians and cyclists killed in our city over the past year. This will mark the seventh year that this event has occurred. Riders will visit the site of each ghost bike, a white-painted memorial for cyclists, installed in the past year. Please help us show solidarity with the family and friends of those lost by joining us for this important event. Bring flowers and other items to honor those lost.Bronx-Manhattan Ride
11:30 La Finca Del Sur Community Garden, S138th & Grand Concourse (4 or 5 to E138th St, Bronx)
Queens-Brooklyn Ride
11:30 Cross Bay Pkwy & Beach Channel Dr. (A to Beach 90 or Beach 98, Queens)
Staten Island Ride
12:00 Everything Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay St (between Victory and Hannah, Staten Island)
Brooklyn Ride
12:30 Avenue T & 9th St. (D to 25th Ave. or N to Avenue U, Brooklyn)
Convergence
4:00 Unnamed memorial, Union Ave. & S5th St., Brooklyn

The event is free and open to all.
Rain date: Sunday, March 25

Those of you who are interested in attending any of the above-listed events can RSVP via Facebook by clicking here. Otherwise you can get more information and updates at Ghostbikes’sweb site.

Given our very own 94th Precinct reported 77 pedestrian/motorist accidents in 2011 (two of which were fatalities) versus 47 in 2010 (still not a stellar figure), I strongly encourage any and all north Brooklynites to participate in this event. Be it by attending the Memorial Walk/Ride proper or helping with the creation and installation of ghost bikes at the Greenpoint Reformed Church thsi upcoming weekend (March 10th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) we can make our voices heard!

This item was brought my attention by a very nice lady named Donna. What is Humans of New York about, you ask? Here’s an explanation of this project as given by its founder, Brandon Stanton:

Humans of New York is a multi-year project to construct a photographic census of the city of New York. The team consists of one man, who walks the streets several hours a day, looking for interesting people, and taking their photograph. Currently, the project is in the gathering phase. Nearly 1,400 portraits have been collected thus far. The goal is 10,000. Photos are uploaded as they are collected, and arranged by date. When a substantial body of portraits has been gathered, they will be grouped by neighborhood and displayed geographically. Upon completion, an interactive map will show every neighborhood in New York through the faces of its inhabitants.